Christmas 2011

I suggested to RM and Moe that we should open gifts after we came back from church. They looked at me as if I said something sacrilegious- that idea was promptly shot down.

Church services wouldn't start until 11am so we all got up a few hours earlier to open our gifts.

We usually buy Moe gifts that are practical and things that he really needs, which is why he looks really surprised, when he finds that one of his gifts is a sports wrist watch- something he's wanted for a long time.


One of Moe's "practical" gifts was a toiletry bag, since we got tired of seeing him lugging a plastic bag for his toiletries. When Moe first opened his gift, he didn't know what it was and thought it was a bible case.

I guess all those years that he's seen RM's toiletry bag, he must have assumed it was a bible case.


When Moe and I went shopping for RM's gift, Moe remembered that RM wanted a rotary socket wrench in Home Depot. You could tell that RM really loves this wrench! He looks at a wrench the way I look at chocolate.

RM and Moe had a great time shopping for my gifts which were black furry house slipper/boots, soft Christmas socks, jewelry box, and a book light- I loved all of them! And they did a great job in wrapping my gifts too! (I don't know when they had time to wrap my gifts, but I have a feeling it was the evening when they kept telling me that I look tired and should go to bed.)

For our main entree, RM was cooking a pot roast. Since it would take several hours for the pot roast to cook- RM starting cooking a few hours before we opened presents.

RM scoffed at me when I told him he should just use dried herbs.

The pot roast & vegetables right before it goes into the oven.

As soon as the pot roast was baking in the oven, we went to church. The Christmas messages were beautiful and the music was uplifting. We left church feeling renewed and grateful.

This is the best pot roast I have ever tasted! It was tender, juicy, savory, and required no knife- a fork was all we needed!

As RM puts it, "the pot roast is saying, come eat me- I'm really good"


Since I knew the pot roast wouldn't be ready to eat after church, I made a classic coffee cake the night before and we had that while Moe had to "patiently" wait for the roast to cook. These are the best rolls I have ever made- they were delicious!

When we finally sat down and ate our Christmas feast, we reflected on this Christmas season- we all agreed it was one of the best Christmas seasons we've had in a very long time.